Birthday bafflement
by Arraye
Summary: At Cindy's birthday celebrations the gang are rather surprised by Jimmy's gift. What's the meaning behind this rather rubbish present?


Title: Birthday bafflement!

Author: Arraye

Disclaimer:  Jimmy and co don't belong to me, but this story does! Happy reading!

Summary: At Cindy's birthday celebration all the gang are surprised at Jimmy's choice of gift, what's the meaning behind this rather rubbish present?

Author's note:  Since this is intended to be a one-shot waff type thing, there will only be two parts to this story. Here's the first half, the second will be posted shortly. Though can a story be classified as a short, one shot when it's in two parts, the first of which is 23 pages? That's something to ponder.

Libby was precariously balanced on a stool, struggling to pin up the colourful crepe-paper.

Sheen, according to the various thumps and groans was in the hall, having about as much luck with the balloons as Libby was with the banners.

And Carl was in the kitchen supposedly creating a cake, though the others had quietly muttered to themselves that he was probably alternating between creating the cake, and cleaning out the fridge.

Which just left two people.

Jimmy, who had some really important teacher meeting he'd had to rush off to; but had promised vehemently that of course he'd be back in time.

And Cindy; who was watching the chaotic preparations for her birthday party with both weariness and bemusement.

If it had been anyone else's birthday she would have been right along side them, giving instruction. Making them work together like a well oiled-machine.

But of course, it wasn't.

And she'd been given strict instruction from Libby and the others not to lift a finger. Which meant that she was totally and utterly bored.

She was at the age now, where birthdays weren't really something to show enthusiasm about openly, but she still enjoyed the occasion. Especially because of the whole furore her friends would usually turn it into.

For instance, without fail every birthday could be guaranteed to contain at least one argument between Sheen and Libby.

Despite their relationship continuing for about two years and the fact that they lived together, they could still be counted on for a small little spat. Usually more often that not, due to some stupid comment Sheen would make, more often than not about the fact that he was missing Ultra lord by doing this. And Libby would add that "what did it matter, he had every episode on tape already."

Carl would demolish what ever piece of food would happen to appear in his eye line, and most likely injure himself in the process.

And Jimmy.

Jimmy would bring some new, ridiculously un-needed invention to speed up the preparations or in the case of last year; the cleaning up, which would go predictably wrong. And inevitably there would be twice as much cleaning to do before he'd interfered.

Despite all their faults though, it was hard for Cindy not to think fondly of them.

After all, they made an effort every year despite her numerous protests that she didn't need a party or particularly want one. And every year despite her grumbling as they set to work, she was secretly pleased they'd made the effort.

She watched as Sheen entered the living room carrying a box of what she supposed you could call balloons. Looking at the contents more carefully as he ambled over to help Libby, she had to hold back a smile.

_Looks like Sheen made his patented balloon animal; the albino snake._

With Sheen's extra help Libby finally managed to pin the last corner of the banner to the wall, and as she stepped off the stool they all looked up at it.

"Happy birthday!" it proclaimed, its bright neon orange lettering blazing out amongst the otherwise drab background.

"I told you," Cindy uttered, choosing that moment to claim her annoyance once more, "I don't need a birthday party."

Libby more than used to this particular charade every year knew exactly the response Cindy wanted to hear. "Of course you do. Everyone needs a birthday party. Twenty-two is something to celebrate!"

"No", Cindy replied blithely, "Twenty one is something to celebrate. Twenty-two is just something that comes after. One of the no-nothing years between twenty-one and thirty."

Libby simply rolled her eyes and moved the stool she'd previously been perched on out of the way into a corner. Ignoring Cindy, she made her way over to the box Sheen had left in the middle of the room.

"What's this?"

She picked up a random white blob and turned it over in her hands, examining it.

Sheen who wisely remained quiet during Libby and Cindy's conversation was relieved enough at the change in topic that he let Libby's comment go without indignant anger.

"It's an albino snake" he uttered in the best non-blasé voice he could muster.

Despite his best attempts however it wasn't enough to stop Libby bursting into peals of laughter.

He stood back and took in the sound of her laughter with enjoyment. If there was one person he didn't mind making fun of him, then it was Libby. She could get away with murder as far as he was concerned.

Cindy, her annoyance reaching its peak decided to push her argument once more.

"I really don't need a birthday party. I'm much too old" she added and folded her arms tightly over her chest to emphasise her statement. Unfortunately it simply gave the opposite effect and made her seem childish.

It was because of this, that Libby's response still contained an element of laughter in her voice rather than the frustration it probably deserved. "Must we go through this every year Cind? Everybody needs something for their birthday."

Cutting off Cindy's protests she continued, "We all know you want a party really, so just admit it."

Cindy merely narrowed her eyes, annoyed her charade had been exposed.

"Besides" Libby offered with a smile, "after what happened, you really need something to cheer you up girl."

Cindy unfolded her arms and allowed her façade to dissolve. Usually she'd attempt to push the issue a little more. Enjoying the growing frustration evident on her friend's faces from her child-like behaviour. But she really didn't see it worth her while pushing that particular issue. Not when it was likely to conclude in a long over- wrought discussion with Libby ascertaining to her feelings.

It was better in all interests to let this one go.

Libby noticing Cindy's thoughtful expression was about to add something more, when Carl chose that particular moment to burst in and unveil his cake.

_Cake?_ Thought Cindy gasping in awe at the numerous trimmings and frosting as it was carefully placed on a table. _That thing's a masterpiece. _

"Ta-da!" Carl uttered, an 8-billion watt smile appearing on his face as he noticed his friends drooling faces.

"Thank you Carl. It's amazing" Cindy said truthfully.

"Whoa" added Sheen, expressing Cindy's statement in not so many words.

"I guess", said Libby reluctantly tugging their attentions away from frosty-covered paradise, "that we better start the celebrations then."

"Like the presents?" Sheen added hopefully. And off Libby's nod, both he and Carl rushed off into the hall to collect them.

_Yeah,_ thought Libby, _the quicker we start the celebrations the quicker we can eat that cake._

Left alone with the cake mere inches away from them, both Cindy and Libby thought it better to retire to the couch. Easier to resist temptation that way.

"I guess we can say Carl found his true calling", Cindy said allowing herself another glance at the soft pink frosting.

"Yeah" Libby answered following her friend's gaze, "I'm glad I stayed friends with him after High school."

Cindy smiled guilty, herself thinking the very same thing.

"I hope these presents are gonna be better than last year", and raising an expectant eyebrow she turned to Libby.

"Not that there was anything wrong with those gifts", Libby retorted raising an eyebrow of her own, "but this year I'm sure you'll like them."

Cindy examined her friend's expression with scorn. "Last year Sheen got me an Ultra lord bath set."

"It's Sheen, what did you expect. Besides, "she added her voice becoming soft with fondness, "for him that was pretty thoughtful."

Cindy gave an inward grimace at the sappy expression slipping across her friend's face.

You'd think she'd be used to Libby acting all giddy and star-eyed every time Sheen was mentioned by now.

I mean, they were living together. They had been dating for two years; seriously that was. They'd been meandering along, dating of sorts for years before that.

But still, the voice of the girl she once was, that stubborn ten year girl still shouted out "yuck! It's Sheen!?!"

It would probably creep her out forever.

Libby misreading Cindy's thoughtful expression, made a conversational jump that was at once both perfectly true and fundamentally false.

"You're wondering about Jimmy aren't you? Well don't worry I'm sure he'll make it."

Whilst Cindy had secretly been wondering all day as to whether Jimmy would arrive or when his belated appearance would occur, at that exact moment her thoughts had been else where.

So she was able to reply with all the conviction she might previously had been unable to muster.

"I wasn't wondering about Neutron. I couldn't care less as long as he remembers to drop off a gift."

"Uh-huh", Libby replied with a knowing smile on her face.

Cindy felt her annoyance rising as she took in her friend's smug expression.

"Let's just change the subject" she uttered already feeling the crimson-like blush beginning to spread across her cheeks.

"Ok then" Libby said non-plussed by her friends sudden anger, "why don't we talk about what happened a couple of days ago."

Cindy remained suspiciously quiet. And Libby took note of her tight, guarding posture.

"Let's talk about something else". And with that Cindy turned her whole body to face the opposite direction.

_Towards the cake_, Libby noted bemusedly. "We have to talk about it sometime. We have to talk about what happened with...."

Cindy angrily interceded, "I don't want to talk about it. It's my birthday and I want to talk about something else."

"Ok", Libby said softly, hoping to calm her friend down. _Talking about hitting a nerve. Sheesh, playing the birthday card is low._

That said, the pair sat in uncomfortable silence for a few minutes until much to their relief Carl and Sheen traipsed in carrying an armload of presents.

The frosty atmosphere instantly dissolved as Cindy took note of the bundle of presents placed before her. Libby sighed with relief as she watched Cindy waiting expectantly for the first of the presents to be placed in her hands.

There were quite a few there, waiting to be unwrapped, more than to account for the small number of people present. This was because as the years had gone on, like the rest of her friends Cindy had grown to resent the large number of "so-called friends" present at each party. And had instead opted for smaller, more personal gatherings of those she considered her closest friends.

But Cindy being Cindy, despite hating the false pretences of all those pretending to secretly like her for the sake of a party, rather enjoyed receiving all those extra presents. Who cares if the sentiment is false if there's a great gift at the end of it?

So using the skills she'd perfected over numerous student campaigns she started to gently push, shall we say, a large number of the student body at her university to get her small gifts, despite the fact there'd be no free cake at the end of it.

Those she received were squirreled away in the upcoming days for a big bonanza on the actual day. Hence without fail, every birthday she always received more presents than any of her other friends did on theirs.

It also meant on this occasion, that she could delay the celebration by unwrapping all those un-meaningful gifts until Jimmy arrived.

Not that she cared of course.

_It's just that, one more present is one more present._

Still no matter what she said to herself, there was an almost collective sigh of relief at the sound of crunching tires pulling into the drive-way.

"Jimmy's here!", both Carl and Sheen called together, with the elated glee that was always reserved for their friend's return from absence.

_Three grumpy old men to grow old together,_ Cindy thought with a smile as she watched Carl and Sheen scramble from their seats to greet the boy outside.

Jimmy arrived in the living room with much furore from Carl and Sheen, and as Cindy noticed to her chagrin, without a noticeably large present in his hands.

_In fact_ she thought, with her annoyance beginning to bubble once more, _if the idiot had remembered to even bring her a gift, it must be incredibly small because she couldn't spot anything even remotely parcel shaped on him._

"What's wrong Neutron, got kicked out of the teacher's meeting earlier this year?"

Jimmy merely smiled at the predictable retort, "happy birthday Cindy."

Carl and Sheen were more noticeably enthusiastic about Jimmy's return.

"I'm glad you're here Jim."

"Yeah," Sheen added, moving in pat Jimmy's shoulder amicably, "it wouldn't be the same without Jimmy here."

Jimmy's earlier lack of retort made it all the more easy for Cindy to slip into familiar behaviour. "Yeah, without Neutron here, things might have been able to slip into normal."

After a pause to take in the scowl making its way across Jimmy's face, she added, "Or pleasant."

"Whatever Vortex", Jimmy replied, fiercely trying not to get sucked into their usual arguments. _Not this year_, he'd promised himself and to the best of his abilities he was going to stick to that promise.

Eager to defuse a potential spat, the rest of their friends rallied round to change the conversation.

"So what was the meeting about Jim?" Carl asked, gaining an unhappy glare from Cindy.

Jimmy took the opportunity to move out of the door way and pull up a chair before answering. "Y'know Carl, the usual stuff. Marking, that sort of thing."

"Oh yeah" Carl said, turning to Sheen, who merely shrugged.

A loud tsk in the corner, served the purpose of making everyone turn in Cindy's direction. Which of course, was exactly what she'd been hoping for.

Jimmy mentally steeled himself, knowing he was to come under further scrutiny.

"What kinda teachers do they allow, if you're allowed to go round wearing that?"

"I don't know what you mean", Jimmy replied with a smile, and with a flourish removed his baseball cap and placed it on the back of his chair.

"Uh-huh", Cindy replied pointedly looking at his trainers, jeans and the jacket he was now carefully placing on the back on his chair alongside his hat.

She took note of the bemused expression on his face as he sat back down onto the chair. His lack of anger merely served to egg her on further.

She scowled and making sure he could see exactly what she was gazing at, rolled her eyes.

Her eyes wondered over the clearly visible logo printed on his blue jacket and hat, and her physical stature clearly said how sad he was. How egotistical.

The logo was of course; his.

That stupid atom with the electrons orbiting around it. The fact that he still labelled everything of his with that silly childish label, was something she enjoyed teasing him about. And something he nearly always responded to.

This time however he simply sat there. His smile growing larger at her childish attempts to goad him into an argument.

As her face contorted into something resembling anger, Jimmy merely remained calm and shook his head. His cropped hair spilling across his face.

_Not this time_, his body language replied smugly, _I'm not going to get sucked into an argument with you._

As a deafening silence began to envelop the room, the remaining figures present began to look at each other hopelessly.

It was Libby who broke the silence, easily guessing the best way to break her friend's anger. "I guess we should all give Cindy our presents, now that everybody's here."

Cindy hadn't actually finished opening the other presents but offered little resistance as her friends shuffled, picking up their presents to present to her.

As they murmured and fussed, Cindy allowed herself a mental slap at disturbing the peace. Or rather almost ruining her birthday by purposefully starting an argument with Jimmy.

Even after all these years she still found it hard to be around him without resorting to insults or jibes. She didn't do it often any more, and most of the time he seemed to shake it off, but....it was a habit she needed to get out of. When they were on their own it wasn't so bad. But when the others were present...

She couldn't help herself. Whenever she was nice to him or they spoke civilly in company for a couple of minutes she'd always feel like everyone's eyes were boring into her.

That they could tell how she felt.

How she secretly felt.

So she'd insult him, he'd insult her, blah, blah, blah. It was the pattern they'd established since they were ten years old.

She was just too embarrassed, too afraid.

But if he was going to make an effort....

Still she hadn't been too far wrong in her assessment of his attire. He looked like a student, not someone who was teaching Advanced Physics at Retroville University.

Though she supposed that was unfair; Jimmy was still a student. He took classes just like the rest of them, even shared a few with her, since they were doing the same degree.

Or rather one of the same degrees. She was studying English and Drama (that was one degree) and Physics. And Jimmy was studying, Physics, Biology and Chemistry (that's three). Some things never change.

How could he be studying Physics whilst teaching the Advanced Physics degree? was something of vast amusement to the other students at the University. It certainly didn't quite make sense, though with Jimmy, hardly anything ever quite made logical sense.

But early on in his degrees, degree plural; Cindy noted with an inward sigh, it had been obvious to all those involved, that the Physics course was a cake walk for Jimmy. Most of the stuff they were studying he'd been presenting to the world before his eighteenth birthday.

In fact, as Jimmy often gleefully pointed out, what they were learning was years behind what he had been discovering.

So they'd placed Jimmy, rather forcibly, Cindy remembered with a smile, into the Advanced Physics course.

What had happened she supposed was inevitable.

After numerous lessons where Jimmy had systemically proven everything the lecturer had said to be wrong (as was his forte) the lecturer had made the mistake of asking him if he thought he could do a better job.

Jimmy did, the frustrated lecturer left and Jimmy ended up with his job. A job perfect for him in nature and great in keeping him in the chemicals he so richly desired.

He made the most money out of them, understandably, since they were all struggling to pay off student loans on pitiful weekend jobs and so was the only one to have his own house.

Unlike Cindy, who lived with Libby and Sheen, who she'd allowed to move in much to her regret. Though Sheen and Carl tended to bleed Jimmy dry on a day to day basis, so it all worked out in the end.

Anyway despite the fact that he's teaching a higher course, to students who are almost twice his age, technically speaking he still needs his Physic degree. So for formality's sake, Jimmy was still studying much to everyone's amusement.

All the students in their class had at first assumed that Jimmy was lying about his position and then once they learnt the mystifying truth were ecstatic, believing they had a classmate who was the answer to all their prayers. I mean, here was an obvious dork, who they could muscle up to and gain all the answers from.

That particular sentiment had lasted about a week amongst their classmates. That was, it lasted until they saw the gizzomatic 3000. Or whatever invention it was.

The smoke it had begun to belch, the blue/gold sparks that had zigzagged across the ceiling, the hysterical screams of her classmates. All permanently etched into her memory, as well as her own hysterical laughter that had accompanied it all.

Jimmy's boring conversation topics had thrown a few students off the scent before hand, but the calamity with one of his inventions had left them all running for the hills.

It left two things permanently enforced.

One, Jimmy was never allowed to bring an invention within twenty feet of the university doors again (expect maybe for his own classes, and even then everything was met with great scrutiny) and no one ever, ever asked him to do their homework.

Cindy allowed her mind to finger the memory tenderly, allowing herself a brief moment of fondness for Jimmy to show through, at least in her own thoughts.

Jimmy noticing the attention on himself smiled, and smiled even further at the blush spreading hazily across her cheeks. The others noticing the little exchange wisely remained quiet.

Well except Sheen, whose eagerness broke the silence. "Are we going to open these presents or what?" he asked, his gaze darting over to the cake in the corner. Making obviously clear exactly why he was so eager.

Libby and Carl groaned in frustration at Sheen's interruption. And gaining only a befuddled look in return, Libby playfully elbowed him in the ribs. "Keep your mouth shut next time, you dummy" she added a little too loudly. Causing a very similar red haze to appear on Jimmy's cheeks.

"Let's open the presents" Cindy said, grateful to see Jimmy's own embarrassment.

Sheen was first and he gingerly placed his package into her reaching hands. Cindy looked at the bumpy package with obvious scepticism. Sheen had made an effort in his own way she supposed. Still, it looked like something that had escaped from the blue lagoon.

"Like the paper? I chose it specially", Sheen said and off her muddled gaze pointed her in the direction of the wrapping. Under the squiggly knots, which she suspected were meant to be bows, and overzealous amount of cello tape, Cindy could just make out a purplish background and a rather familiar figure.

Ultra lord.

Through half-lidded eyes she offered some sort of thank you and then began to frantically tear through the paper. The other's watched wearily as the bits of paper flew everywhere, coming so fast and thick it was more akin to a snow drift than the opening of gifts.

Despite over ten years experience with handling Sheen, Cindy still tried in vain to look pleased with her gift.

"An Ultra lord make up set?!"

"Don't you like it?"

Cindy couldn't make up her mind over what she was more baffled about. The fact that after all these years, she was still surprised that Sheen had gotten her a gift in the Ultra lord theme. Especially since he did the same thing every year.

Or just the fact that an Ultra lord make up kit even existed.

"Er of course I like it.....its just I didn't know they had stuff like this" she finished lamely.

"Oh of course" Sheen answered brightening immediately at the supposed acceptance of his gift, "it's from the women's range."

"Women's range?" asked Jimmy, even he was bemused.

As for Cindy, words simply failed her. That just raised more questions.

"Is that like...." Carl begun.

"Makeup, towels, flowers....that sort of thing", Sheen interrupted.

Laughter evident in his voice, Jimmy queried further, "flowers, they have Ultra lord flowers?"

"Yeah" Sheen answered, causing them all to look at Libby with a mixture of pity and amusement. Pretty easy to guess what she'd been getting every Valentine's Day.

Eyes blazing, Libby had given them a look that said "don't go there". Naturally they all complied.

"What girl would want an Ultra lord anything?"

Sheen seemed upset at the scorn in Libby's voice, but Cindy smiled. It wasn't really an insult at all.

Even if she wasn't open about it, Cindy knew with a vengeance that Libby was just a big a fan of Ultra lord as Sheen was, though perhaps not as obsessive. You just couldn't be around Sheen that long without at least a mild tolerance for the show he was so dedicated to.

"Thank you Sheen" Cindy had said sincerely, maybe it was a dumb gift but what Libby had said earlier was right, for Sheen it was a very thoughtful gift.

Sheen hearing the sincere praise in her voice, shook himself out of his glum demeanour and stuck out his tongue to Libby, who merely elbowed him in the side in mock defiance.

"My turn" Carl offered and he held out his package to Cindy eagerly. On first glance worryingly there didn't appear much difference between this and Sheen's attempt. Botched wrapping yet again.

_Guys,_ she thought ruefully.

Jimmy raised a cocked eyebrow, correctly gauging her response. Cindy ignored him and set about demolishing the next package. The others watched as the whirlwind of paper enveloped them once more. Sheen looked particularly impressed.

"Another female Ultra lord" he muttered before getting swiftly whacked in the ribs once more by Libby.

Jimmy waited for a pause in the overzealous demolition before offering his own remark. "Sheesh, go easy Vortex. I don't know how many presents you're expecting but...."

With a smug smile, Cindy simply pointed to the mound of presents to the left of her and let them do the talking.

"Ah" Jimmy noted, "blackmail."

"It wasn't blackmail Neutron. It was....", she floundered.

"Extortion". Jimmy mentally gave himself a kick in the head the moment the words had left his mouth. So much for not getting sucked into an argument, he'd practically initiated this one.

"No, persuasion". Thankfully this time, Cindy let it slide. Having a whole heap of presents to unwrap curiously left her in a rather good mood.

"Come on" Carl whined, eager for Cindy to get back to the unwrapping. Quickly remembering the giant cake waiting just across the room, Sheen offered encouragement also.

Cindy gave in with a shrug and continued to unwrap, pulling off the last shred of paper.

This time the response she gave was full of enthusiasm. "Oh thanks Carl" she uttered, struggling not to drool at the contents inside.

"It's raisin flapjacks with apple sauce", Carl said obviously pleased at her response.

Cindy couldn't care less what they were, anything Carl made was delicious.

"Are you going to share those later?" Sheen asked.

"Sheen!" Libby shouted, elbowing her boyfriend once more. Though truth be told, she secretly had been hoping the same thing.

"I suppose" Cindy said, though half-heartedly. Maybe it was greedy, but she wanted to eat them all herself.

Noticing Cindy mournful expression, more akin to losing a loved one than to sharing some flapjacks, Libby decided it was time to move along.

"My turn" she said and with a flourish removed a large square object from behind her. Cindy noted with relief the careful wrapping, neat small pink bows and small handwritten tag.

"And that's how it should be done!" Libby said proudly, looking pointedly at the men in the room.

The guys looked at each other and simply shrugged.

"Why do girls go nuts over wrapping paper?" Sheen whispered.

"Who knows", Jimmy replied in puzzlement, "Cindy rips it off and tears it into shreds so fast, what does it matter?"

Cindy and Libby had ignored the guys various mutterings and turned their attention to the present at hand. The present in Cindy's hand that is.

This time Cindy made a markedly determined effort not to totally destroy the careful wrapping, despite not hearing Jimmy's private conversation to Sheen and Carl.

Still nonetheless, Jimmy shifted guilty for a few minutes until she had finished.

Peeling back the wrapper Cindy was stunned into silence.

"It's beautiful" she begun unable to continue any further. The guys in the room all strained forward to see exactly what was so beautiful.

"A necklace?" Sheen called out in obvious confusion. He could understand getting choked up at a new rare Ultra lord figure, but a necklace? What could you really do with that? He'd never understand girls.

Jimmy and Carl were a bit more understanding as to Cindy's delight but neither could see themselves getting so enthusiastic over a piece of metal.

Cindy shook her head at their ignorance and carefully lifted the necklace from its velvet lined box. It probably wasn't overly expensive; there were students after all but still....

The necklace was a small silver chain with a small stone embedded at the end.

"An Ameynst?" Cindy asked, gazing at the small green stone embedded in the silver.

"I don't know" Libby truthfully admitted, "but I know it's your favourite colour and it goes great with your eyes".

"Thank you", Cindy said softly, her eyes welling with tears. She carefully moved her loose hair out of the way and pulled the chain around her neck, shrugging away Libby's offers of assistance. Closing the clasp, she let her hair drop, and the necklace settled against her neck.

Sheen, listening to previous comments had a giddy look on his face, having grasped gratefully at the concept of anything leaning towards girl and girl action.

Carl nodded enthusiastically, giving his own approval.

Libby looked just as tearful as Cindy.

And Jimmy.

Jimmy looked awed.

In the box he supposed it had looked alright. On Cindy, it looked...looked stunning. The green emerald, he correctly guessed, looked dazzlingly bright amongst all that corn wheat hair. And made her eyes seem strikingly green also.

His nod of approval therefore, was perhaps a little more enthusiastic than the others.

Of course with Libby's present over, that left one gift.

All eyed turned to Jimmy expectedly. Reaching over to his jacket behind him, he fumbled for a while before bringing a small package into view.

_Small_, Cindy noted with annoyance remembering her earlier prediction.

Still she took it amicably enough.

The others watched her place the package onto her lap and carefully begin to unwrap it.

Jimmy remained quiet, his expression unreadable.

Cindy started to sweat.

Jimmy got her a nice enough gift every year, so why was she so afraid of this one? _Because things are different, this time around_ her mind answered, _this time, after what happened, maybe........_

As she slowly reached for the last scrap of paper, she took a deep breath.

Everyone else was suspiciously silent. Cindy thought she'd feel more comfortable with a couple of vultures circling overhead.

As she pulled it off she was surprised to see a small velvet box, not unlike the one Libby had given her a few moments ago. Gulping, she willed the trembling in her hands to stop, and slowly opened the box.

At the small creak, as the lid slowly arched, Libby gave Sheen a small knowing smile, which immediately crumbled at Cindy's befuddled expression.

"What's this?" she asked confused as she looked down at the contents inside.

The others looked at Jimmy expectedly. He refused to say anything.

Curious, Libby leaned forward to get a better view, "What is it?"

The others did the same.

At Libby's query Cindy brought the two objects out of the box and raised them so that everyone could see. Struggling to keep her emotions in check, she wasn't quite sure how to feel.

"Key chains?" Sheen asked, and for once everyone could understand Sheen's confusion.

"Oh" said Carl trying to put on a knowing look, as if he knew exactly the meaning behind the gesture.

"Key chains?" Libby asked her voice full of anger as well as confusion.

Cindy nodded glumly. _It was stupid of me. Stupid to think that..._she wouldn't let herself think any further than that. She knew what she'd thought might have feasibly been in that small velvet box and she felt both hurt and embarrassed at been proving so inexplicably wrong.

_Why should it be meaningful anyway?_ She added angry at the betrayal of her own emotions, _its not like we're dating or anything. Besides most of the time we can't even be civil to each other._ Still, though she struggled, she couldn't quite hide her disappointment.

"Key chains?" Libby continued still not grasping the concept. Sheen might give a girl a keychain, or Carl, but not Jimmy. Maybe they were special key chains.

"Are they an invention Jim?" Carl asked, obviously thinking along the same lines. All four looked up hopefully.

"Nope" Jimmy simply said, "they're just normal key chains."

"Key chains..." Cindy numbly repeated while the others looked glum.

Carl understandably still confused at Jimmy's rather crappy present, asked the question they'd all been repeating in their heads, "Why key chains Jim?"

"So Cindy can take them wherever she goes" Jimmy replied as if this answered everything.

"Oh" Libby uttered trying desperately to drum up some enthusiasm for the small gift. And moving closer, she motioned for Cindy to raise the objects again to get a closer look.

_Maybe she'd missed something significant, like they were a really romantic picture, or heart or poem or something. _Though Cindy's expression caused her to think otherwise.

_Well maybe there was some hidden message that was only obvious to someone like Jimmy. That is, as smart as Jimmy. But then_, her mind queried, _if the gift was for Cindy surely he'd make sure that Cindy would be the one person to get it._

_Maybe I hoped for too much_, she thought ruefully, _I mean, why would things change now?_

They all leaned forward as Cindy paraded the objects. She was it seemed, trying her best to look pleased.

_And if that's her best acting,_ thought Sheen, _she ain't gonna be a film star anytime soon._

Libby and the others looked closely at the small objects hanging from the chains.

_Both were plastic_, Libby thought scornfully, _so obviously weren't that expensive_.

_If you were going to buy key chains for someone, you could at least buy expensive ones, _Cindy's mind echoed, trailing the same line of thought as Libby's.

One was a greyish blob, no wait; a ball. The other; a neon yellow spike. Both were pretty easy to recognise up close.

The moon and a star, or rather a crude representation of the moon and a star. Pretty similar to what you might expect to see in a five year old's drawing.

The fact that Jimmy had bought them in the first place was perplexing; the fact that he'd bought childish, inaccurate models was down right mind-boggling.

When had Jimmy ever accepted this crude, three spiked star, the way most children envision them? Even when he was younger not one of them could think of a time when he'd ever taken to even drawing them that way.

The fact that they were plastic as well, spoke volumes, all four of them reflected.

Jimmy could feasibly, as far as they knew, create galaxies, universes. _If he could just as easily have created a moon and a star, why give Cindy this cruddy plastic imitation?_

"Where'd you get it?" Libby asked. When in doubt keep asking. There must be some sort of meaning behind it, and if not the object, maybe the place from which it was obtained.

"The Retroville planetarium" Cindy read from the small lettering on the back of her gifts.

Libby waited for some sort of ecstatic realisation to come from Cindy, some sort of understanding.

It didn't, she just looked more dejected.

"Well for specialist gifts you have to go to specialist stores" Jimmy said, seemingly unaware of the displeasure his gift was causing.

He offered a smile, but it didn't quite sit right on the rest of his face. Libby correctly guessed he probably felt as dejected as Cindy.

Cindy gazed down at the two objects and clutched them tightly in her hands. Lowering her head, she tried desperately to stop her eyes from filling with tears.

The others sat quietly not quite sure what to do.

Jimmy lowered his eyes to his hands feeling the angry looks from the other piercing him.

_I didn't mean to upset you_ he wanted to say, _I thought you'd like it. _But in all likeliness that would probably just make her more upset.

_What was it she had said all those years ago; admit that I've got better people skills than you? Wasn't that the truth._

Cindy unable to know all this, struggled to keep her calm composure on show. If there was one thing she didn't want him or anyone else to see, it was her becoming upset.

Anything else was fine, but she couldn't bear the thought of allowing him to see how much he could upset her.

She struggled to keep the tears from escaping down her cheeks. So she turned her disappointment into the one thing she knew she could cope with. The thing they'd probably all expect; anger.

Standing up suddenly, she clenched her hands tight over the cold metal objects. Though she wasn't looking at anyone in particular, they could all guess exactly who her anger was vented towards.

"What kind of guy..." she angrily began, advancing on Jimmy who remained seated on his chair, "gives this as a birthday present?"

The others began to creep backward.

"Even Sheen's gift is more thoughtful than yours," she shouted, letting the poor injustice of it all show in her voice.

"Even he put more effort into a gift."

"Hey! "Sheen began but was soon silenced by the icy glare Cindy gave him.

The others signalled to each other, plainly asking _what the hell should we do?_ Not one of them could particularly think of anything, apart from maybe grabbing Jimmy and legging it, till defcon 3 was over.

"It's nice to know that Mr Neutron over here, has gotten so above us that he doesn't even make an effort anymore. I'm sorry that we're obviously so below you, what being mere students and all."

Pissed off tai-chi champion. Idiot who had placed himself in a rather large hole of his own making.

It was at that point that it was unanimously decided that Jimmy would have to suffer on his own. It just wasn't worth losing a limb over. Cindy would get him eventually even if they managed to plan a diversion and escape somehow. Might as well cut out the waiting and get it over with.

_And _Sheen's mind added, all loyalty to Jimmy going out the window; _there happened to be an extremely delicious cake here as well. Everybody wins._

Throughout Cindy's rantings and progressive advancements towards him, Jimmy remained quiet.

_Shock_, Sheen thought. _Or maybe he's just playing dead_.

Still it was kinda odd that Jimmy hadn't tried to defend himself. Vocally that was, physically there wasn't much point with Cindy on the opposing side. But usually he'd say something.

Maybe he knew there wasn't much point. Maybe he didn't have an argument to make. Whatever, it made his impending torture all the more agonising.

As Cindy finally got close enough to grab a tight hold of Jimmy's t-shirt, the fearful few remaining, had just about made it to the door. Carefully turning the door-knob, hoping it wouldn't squeak, they were just about to escape into the hallway, when they heard Cindy's final shout.

"What kind of guy gives a girl a plastic moon and star?"

Jimmy wisely didn't offer a defence.

And Sheen, wisely didn't jump in and offer to be his defence lawyer.

"Well, what kinda guy gives a girl a moon and a star?" she began and then faltered.

"Is that a rhetorical question, or a real question?" Sheen asked the others.

"Moon and star" Cindy started and looked down at the tightly clutched objects in her hands. "Moon and star," she began again her voice softer than before.

"Oh" she began this time, barely able to keep the emotion from her voice, before hugging Jimmy tightly.

"What kinda torture is this?" Carl asked fearful for his friend's safety, though while he said it he was still continuing to cautiously move towards the exit.

"Maybe it's like Chinese water torture" Sheen offered, "y'know she pretends to be all nice and then kills him."

"I don't think that's exactly how it works", Libby said before taking another glance at Cindy's face. "But I don't think this is it."

Sheen looked round for a moment in confusion before voicing the question they'd all been thinking, "Did I miss something?"

Author's notes:

So what is the meaning behind Jimmy's gift?

Well you'll have to wait till the next chapter to find out, though I suspect the answer may be slightly predictable. Anyway hopefully you noticed there's an incident mentioned several times, this is the key to the next chapter. See ya then!


End file.
